The present invention is directed to a system and method for cleaning eyewear.
Whether they are for vision correction, vision protection or simply used as a fashion accessory, eyewear has long been a popular, if not indispensable, personal accessory. There are specialty eyewear which includes a wide range of eyeglasses and sunglasses that are designed for a specific purpose, such as computer use, driving, work, hobbies, eye protection and more. A huge variety of frames are available for prescription eyeglasses or sunglasses. Not only are there many different shapes and colors in eyeglass frames, but advances in technology have also brought a variety of new materials, for both the frames and the lens, which makes eyeglasses more durable, lightweight and comfortable. Eyeglass frames are now created from high-tech materials such as titanium and memory metals, while the lens are now thinner and lighter than ever before, even for high prescriptions. Lens coatings, including scratch-resistant coatings, ultraviolet treatments, anti-reflective coatings and mirror coatings, are commonly added to the lens to enhance their performance and appearance.
These high-tech frames and coated lens are expensive and are worth protecting. Unfortunately, the lens (even scratch-resistant coatings are not scratch-proof) can easily be damaged by casual cleanings by the wearer, leaving the lens with a unsightly scratched surface that can hinder vision. As any eyewear user knows, eyewear can require cleaning with just a short time of wear. Because of the eyewear""s close contact to the wearer, body oils, sweat, grime and dead skin cells gets trapped in the lens and frame and accumulate in little time. Dust, dirt and fingerprints on the lens add to this unwanted mess. Further, the metal finish of frames can corrode and become discolored from prolonged exposure to sweat, which is acidic in nature.
Wiping the eyewear with tissue paper or the corner of a shirt is a common practice for many eyeglass wearers. However, ordinary tissue paper and many types of cloths are highly abrasive because of their coarse fibers. Wiping the lens with these often lead to irreparable damage to the coating. Small, hard particles such as sand may also be deposited on the lens, and a simple wiping may be akin to polishing the lens with sandpaper.
Non-abrasive Micro-fiber Towels, with each strand of fiber being made of hundreds of micro-fibers (on the scale of 90,000 micro-fibers per sq. inch) have been gaining popularity in eyeglass care. These micro-fibers act to attract and hold dirt and grime, and can retain up to seven times its weight. The cloth used in micro-fiber towels is made of a matrix of polyester and polyamide weaved in such a way as to create a xe2x80x9cclinginessxe2x80x9d that picks up dirt. However, these towels are unable to reach tiny nooks and crannies of the eyeglass frame, and do not counteract the acidic corrosion of sweat. Further, because the cloths trap and hold grime, they get dirty very quickly and lose their effectiveness without frequent laundering.
Ultrasonic cleaners, such as the one taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,114,194, have long been known in the field of professional jewelers and optometrists. The ability of a liquid when ultrasonically agitated to penetrate small spaces and, by cavitation, to remove foreign matter from solid objects has led to the wide use of ultrasonic cleaners in laboratories and industry. However, it is discovered that the use of ultrasonics tends to break down and remove the coating on the lens.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,988,910 teaches an eyeglass cleaning apparatus with a pair of lens engaging rollers made of soft web material mounted on a handle. A lens is passed between the rollers and the rollers are rotated to clean the lens simultaneous on both sides. The handle includes a pump for spraying cleaning solution on the lens prior to operation. This device cleans only one lens at a time, and requires constant movement by the user to cover all corners of a lens. Further, it is not designed specifically with cleaning the frame in mind.
An automatic, motorized eyewear cleaner is provided in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. The cleaner can clean practically any pair of eyeglasses by agitating them in a specially formulated cleaning solution, and then automatically drying them. The entire process from start to finish should take only about one minute.
It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide an automatic device that can effectively and safely clean all manner of eyewear, regardless of whether the frame is plastic or metal, whether the lens are glass or plastic, or whether the lenses are coated or not. The device should be able to clean most shapes and sizes of frames and lens.
It is a related object of this invention to provide an automatic device that is small and compact, yet can receive and clean virtually all available eyewear.
It is a related object of this invention to provide a specially formulated solution for use in conjunction with the automatic device that is safe to materials and coatings used in eyewear that would dissolve dirt and grime on the eyewear and leave a chemical coat that fills in micro-scratches on the lens.
A further object is to have this chemical coat be anti-static to act as a repellent to dust particles.
A related object is to have the solution make the eyewear feel cool and refreshing to the wearer when they are put on after cleaning.
Another related object is for the solution to counteract the effects of corrosion caused by sweat.
It is another object of this invention to provide an automatic device that can effectively clean eyewear in the specially formulated solution and then substantially dry the eyewear, in sixty seconds or less.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an automatic device that is easy to operate and to maintain.
A related object of the invention to provide a device that is economical to operate, even with frequent use.
Another object of the invention is to provide a pleasing display of lights while the eyeglass is being cleaned.
The above and related objects are addressed by embodiments of the instant invention. In the following discussion, the terms eyeglasses, eyewear, glasses will have the same meaning, and refer to a common configuration comprising a frame, lens, nose rests, hinges, and ear pieces.